A Christmas To Remember
by FallenJustice
Summary: A Christmas in the Glass House, basically. :)


A Christmas to Remember

With Claire's parents safely away from town for Christmas, she could finally get the freedom, peace and relaxation she needed. She sat cross-legged on the floor of the Glass House living room, her friends Eve and Michael and her boyfriend Shane sitting with her. Michael was in his armchair with his guitar in hand, strumming out a passive and complicated tune. Eve and Shane were battling against each other in a game of Zombie Killer 2, which of course, Shane was winning (with a little help from Claire.) Occasionally, Claire would place her hand on Eve's controller or over her eyes to briefly give Shane the advantage.

It was Christmas Eve, about 11pm. They'd had dinner, which consisted of left over chili from the previous night, and they were all enjoying an evening together for once. Usually Michael worked nights because of the whole vampire aspect, and Claire was usually too tired after an afternoon at the lab with Myrnin to want to stay up late. Whereas Shane could sit up until 3am, trying to Michael's newly-set high score.

After another two rounds, Eve and Shane gave up on killing zombies and Eve went to sit at Michael's feet while he continued to strum out a tune on his guitar. Shane looked at the empty sofa cushions next to him and drew little circles on them with his finger, casting pleading glances down at Claire. She smiled and pulled herself to her feet and sat down on the couch next to Shane. Before she could speak or protest Shane's arm went around her waist and pulled her closer towards him, pressing her back to his chest. Claire relaxed against him as he trailed his fingers up and down her arm and planted a soft, hot kiss on the tender skin at the back of her neck.

That night they all slept in their own rooms, mainly because they each had presents to wrap for the next morning.

**Christmas Day**

Claire was woken by a knock at the door, she checked the clock and it read; 9:30am. She opened the door to find Eve stood there in a plain black dress that came down to just above her knee, with a thin neon pink belt, and her black Doc Martens with an embroidered rose on the side. "Merry Christmas and all that, but come on CB, we have dinner to make." She smiled and headed down the stairs towards the kitchen. Claire smiled to herself as she took the outfit she'd planned to wear off the coat hanger. Claire had chosen a collared red lace dress with ¾ sleeves and a thin brown belt; she also put on her black high heels and the claddagh ring that Shane had bought her. Claire attempted at putting spiral curls in her hair, but ended up settling for loose curls instead. She took one last glance in the mirror before carefully making her way downstairs, trying not to wake the boys.

Eve was in the kitchen, she'd already laid out the vegetables, turkey, potatoes and stuffing across the kitchen table and the work tops. "You do the veggies." Eve told Claire. She nodded and took a knife off the magnetic strip, grabbed a carrot and started chopping. Eve busied herself by preparing the turkey and wrapping it in tin-foil. Over the space of one and a half hours, the two of them managed to get dinner cooking slowly, so it would be ready by mid-day, giving them all a chance to say their Merry Christmas' and exchange presents. Claire and Eve chatted in the kitchen, which had become stuffy with the heat of the cooker, about how Claire's classes were going, how working at the UC was going for Eve and if Myrnin had lost his sanity yet. When the two boys had finally dragged themselves out of bed, Eve and Claire were sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast. Shane slid into the chair next to Claire and promptly stole a slice of her toast. "Hey!" She pretended to stab his hand and scowled at him. "There's a price for that!"

"Oh yeah?" Shane asked, flashing her a cocky grin and taking a bite of the toast.

"Yeah." Claire put a finger under his chin and kissed him lightly on the lips. "But you can pay me back later if you like. Call that a deposit." She looked him up and down and saw that he'd made a real effort this morning; he was wearing a pair of smart, dark blue jeans and a white polo shirt. She glanced at Michael, who was in the middle of his usual good-morning conversation with Eve; he was wearing a lighter pair of jeans and a long sleeved, blue and white plaid shirt. Claire stood up and walked to the sink and began washing up her plate. She jumped a little when two warm hands grabbed her by the waist, turning her around.

"You look stunning." Shane said. Claire flicked water off her fingers into his face, making him blink. While he was distracted, she wrapped her damp arms around his neck and kissed him. The feel of him kissing her back was like electricity flowing through her veins, every nerve in her body was tingling. Shane slid his arms up from her hips and pressed his hands flat on her back, pulling her closer to him. He pulled back suddenly, and it took Claire a second to realize that he'd pulled back only because Michael had tapped him on the shoulder.

"Come on love-birds." He chuckled and walked, hand in hand with Eve, into the living room to sit on the floor around the plastic Christmas tree they'd all set up. Claire took Shane's hand and tried to pull him towards the living room, but he stayed completely anchored to the spot.

"Hey." He said, gently pulling her around to face him again. "You look stunning. You really do. I mean it, Claire."

Claire blushed deeply at the sincerity of his voice. "Thanks." She smiled bravely through her blush and kissed him on the nose. "You look great too." Shane smiled smugly to himself and pulled Claire into a hug. Shane smelt like… Shane… And the great new aftershave that he'd bought not so long ago. She breathed in deeply before reluctantly pulling away to walk into the living room to join Eve and Michael around the tree and the pile of colourfully wrapped presents underneath it.

They each took it in turns to hand out the presents they'd bought for one another. Michael went first. Eve's present was a new, matching top, skirt and shoes that she'd apparently been longing for, for a while. Shane's was some new, expensive aftershave, which he promptly shoved under Claire's nose to see if she approved. She did. A lot. Claire's was a beautifully delicate jewellery set, with matching earrings, necklace and bracelet with small silver roses as detailing. They all said their thank you's, and Eve tackled Michael to the floor in a hug and kissed him on the nose.

Eve went next. Michael's gift was a book, a new guitar pick and shoulder strap and a leather bracelet with "M&E" engraved into a gold bead in the centre. He smiled in his special angelic way and hugged her tight, whispering a thank you and something private in her ear. Claire's gift was a lacy magenta bra and pants set. Claire narrowed her eyes at Eve, which Eve responded to by giggling. Claire covered the underwear up with the wrapping paper and put it on the other side of her before Shane could get a proper look. She thanked Eve and blushed deeply. Lastly, Shane's gift was a new, fitted t-shirt and a smarter pair of jeans, which was a practical present really seen as Shane never went out and bought new jeans, so his were all tatty and frayed.

Now Shane. Eve's present was a new purse, of course, shaped like a coffin. On the inside was a cartoon skeleton with its arms crossed over its ribcage, it had a bloody dagger in one hand and freaky googly eyes. Eve squealed and hugged Shane. Michael's present was a new guitar case. It was black canvas with a red M embroidered on it, it also came with a shoulder strap that could be adjusted and removed. Shane saved Claire until last and smiled cockily at her as he pressed the present into her hands. She carefully peeled back the wrapping paper and found a medium sized, maroon velvet box. She opened it slowly, revealing a beautiful pure silver necklace with a flat silver penny hanging off the chain. One side had an intricate love-heart engraved on it, the other side, in tiny writing said;

_I will love you _

_Until my heart stops beating,_

_Shane xxx_

Claire's mouth dropped open as she practically fell into his arms. He caught her and stroked the back of her head, kissing her ear delicately. "Thank you." She whispered.

"I'm glad you like it." She pulled back and looked up into his smiling face.

"I don't. I love it." She smiled back.

Claire's turn. She sat cross legged by the side of the tree and took the pile of shiny, blue wrapped presents in hand. She handed Michael's his first, his was a leather-backed notebook that had music paper inside and a matching pen and some funky socks she'd seen online, which had little reindeers on them. Eve's present was a toiletry set with moisturising lotion, perfume and shower gel, all of which is matching gothic, black and red bottles. Given the look on her face, it was just what she wanted. She, also, saved Shane until last. She'd spent a lot of money on Shane's present, it was something he'd been looking at getting for ages, but he didn't have the money. So Claire had saved up for months for this. She handed it over, biting her lip as he ripped open the paper. His eyes immediately lit up as he stared at the leather jacket folded neatly in the wrapping. He'd been wanting if for ages, but couldn't afford. So Claire had saved up almost everything to get it. Shane, straight faced, put the jacket aside and rose to his knees, shuffling over quickly and cupping her face in his hands, kissing her hard. "Thank you." He whispered in her ear, in that way that made her shiver and giggle.

**So I know it's been a while since I posted anything. I'm working on quite a few pieces at the same time, so I rushed to get this finished. I've been quite busy with stuff, so I'm sorry for taking ages :) Hope you liked this, please R+R oxoxox**


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